


Danny Cyclone and the Red Surfer

by wastefulreverie



Series: PhannieMay Shots 2018 [21]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Gen, Mer AU, Mer Danny, Mer!Danny, Parody, Shades of Gray AU, episode rewrite, mermaid, merman, merman au, shades of gray
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-10-01 01:09:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17234579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wastefulreverie/pseuds/wastefulreverie
Summary: Episode rewrite of Shades of Gray, Mer! AU.An encounter with a merman called Cyclone and some magic seal destroys Valerie's picture perfect life. Now, donning surf-gear provided by a mysterious benefactor, she swears revenge on Cyclone and his mystical seal thing for ruining her and her father's lives.





	Danny Cyclone and the Red Surfer

 

The Axion Marine Research Facility was teeming with activity. All throughout the building, researchers rushed from station to station, tending to the sea-animals and working on individual scientific studies. 

On the other side of the facility, one Valerie Gray gazed at an empty tank of water that extended to the ceiling as her father continued to appease his boss about the new installations. She wasn't really interested, and was only walking with them because Damon had asked her to. She'd rather be at home, preferably on the phone with Star so she could complain some more about how loser Fenton had ruined her perfectly new swimsuit earlier that day.

“Digital surveillance, retina scanning access portals, titanium doors, laser detectors,” Damon bragged, glancing between his boss and the two security guards. “As promised, this is the most secure marine biology facility in the United States.”

A magnetic door closed behind him as they entered a new section of the building. There was another empty tank in this walkway.

Damon's boss grinned, “Well done, Damon. You can feel free to bill me the remainder of your fee.”

Now _those_ words caught Valerie's attention. She perked up excitedly, “Which means, I can replace that new swimsuit!”

Behind them, there was a gradual roar of noise that made itself present. The small group of five turned to face the door defensively when many violent dents appeared in the metal. With their attention captured by the breached door, the unoccupied tank of water unexpectedly burst open, instantly flooding the tunnel and sending the humans in the small space floating. Valerie gasped, attempting to remain buoyant in the dangerous torrent of water, when a slimy arm grabbed her and pulled her to the surface. 

She came face to face with a white haired, green-eyed boy with pearly, translucent skin, and menacingly sharp fangs. His fingers were webbed like some sort of frog and he had weird slits on the side of his neck. Valerie looked down and almost shrieked: instead of legs, he had one, single black appendage that almost looked like a fish tail. At this, Valerie knew she had to be dreaming. 

“What  _ are  _ you?” she spat, demanding an answer to her confused thoughts.

He didn't answer, but instead whipped around, splashing her in the process, and faced the door that had finally broken open. And then, Valerie saw why.

If she had to guess what it was, she would have to say it was a seal. But a lot...  _ lot _ bigger. It was at least ten feet tall, and bright neon orange. It was covered in what she assumed was seaweed, and wait, was it  _ glowing _ ? Since she grew up on the coast, and her Dad worked at a marine research facility, she knew a little bit about seals. But she had never seen one so hostile before in her life. This thing was almost a beast!

The seal irritably shook the seaweed off of itself, and it flung into the air, smothering Valerie.

At that, the weird white-haired boy snorted. “I'll tell you what I'm not: covered in sushi ingredients.”

For lack of a better judgment, everything that had happened that day crept back up on Valerie, and the boy's comment did  _ not  _ help at  _ all _ . Her anger bubbled back up to the surface and she let out a frustrated scream.

At the sound of her voice, the seal's attention was recaptured, and it began to pounce towards her and the boy. The boy, known as Cyclone, defended against the creature's attack just in time, just before he changed direction and started swimming towards the other end of the tunnel. 

“Bad seal!” Cyclone screamed, ignoring the enraged girl behind him. “No! Get back here!”

The seal swims through the flooded walkway, and crashes into another tank, into the research laboratory with started Axion employees. Cyclone followed suit, but was too far behind when the seal recklessly smashed a table of samples, pushed over a desk (with a traumatized man in it), stopped to eat some nearby fish food, and somehow caused an array of shelves to domino. The shelves pathetically fell into the flooded floor, and Cyclone started to get more and more frustrated.

“C'mon! Nemo!” he dubbed the seal the appropriate nickname before swimming forward and finally grabbing it's neck. At that, 'Nemo' started thrashing around, and becoming even wilder in the water. Cyclone hung on for dear life. “Woahhh! Slow down!”

Meanwhile, Damon, his boss, and the guards managed to open the broken door and entered the flooded lab.

Hopelessly, one of the guards tried to take action. “Halt!  _ Halt!! _ ” He attempted shooting a net canon at Nemo and Cyclone, who was still holding onto the seal's neck. The net missed and at that point, Cyclone was more agitated than anything.

“Cut it out, you stupid fish brain!” he screamed in it's ear.

Back at the door, Damon stood up confidently, refusing to allow fear to dominate his expression. “Stand back, everybody,” he declared. “This state of the art security system can stop anything!

Damon pressed a button, and what appeared to be some sort of metal disco ball with striking red lasers descended from the ceiling. However, Nemo and Cyclone simply went underwater, effortlessly avoiding the lasers. Another canon from a wall shot a green net, which hovered uselessly above the water, staying afloat. Eventually bored with his rampage, Nemo decided to escape the lab by breaking through another door. Luckily, the door led to the facility's docks, which allowed him and Cyclone to quickly disappear into the ocean.

Once he realized that the creature and boy were gone, Damon fearfully noticed his boss's infuriated expression and gave a depressed sigh. “I'm fired, aren't I?”

His boss's eye twitched in unparalleled rage. “Not just fired, you're ruined.”

At that exclamation, Damon and Valerie understandably looked at each other with a crestfallen resignation. Both father and daughter knew that nothing would ever be the same.

* * *

 Two days after the incident at Axion, Valerie was having the worst time of her life. She was having to sell all of her belongings, yet none of her friends even acknowledged her struggles! It was so humiliating, not to mention miserable!

At lunch, Kwan noticed her and beckoned her over. “Hey Val! We're down for the concert, right?”

Valerie sighed, possessively gripping her feeble bag lunch. “Sorry guys. I had to sell my ticket online to help pay for the moving truck. Things are kinda tight now, you know?”

Dash scoffed, “No.”

“Nuh uh,” Paulina said, blankly.

“Not really,” Kwan frowned.

Feeling a little bit hurt from her friends' failure to sympathize with her situation, she still tried to sit down with them, as usual. However, before she could take her seat, Dash blatantly blocked her from doing so.

“Speaking of tight...” he glanced across the cafeteria, looking at the loser table with Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley. Danny and Tucker were stuffing their faces with food like savages while Sam distastefully face-palmed.

Valerie grit her teeth, finally realizing her friends' cold betrayal. “I get it,” she ground out, before dejectedly going to suffer through her lunch in solitude.

Just one table away, Danny, Tucker, and Sam watched her with awe.

“Woah,” Tucker commented. “ _Brutal_.”

“Did you see that?” Danny asked, shocked. “Valerie just got scorched by her friends.”

Sam crossed her arms. “Haven't you heard? She's pretty much hit rock bottom. She and her Dad have had to sell everything they own!”

Danny frowned, remembering what he had done only a few days earlier that had created this horrible predicament. If it hadn't been for Danny Cyclone screwing everything up, Valerie's life wouldn't be in shambles. He was trying to put his cursed powers to good use, but it was just harder and harder to see the positive side of things when his powers started causing other people bad luck. After all, he had hardly come to terms with his own powers himself. It still freaked him out a little bit that whenever he touched water he was forcibly transformed into a merman. Everything about the situation just screamed 'not good!', and now it was finally affecting other people. 

“I feel bad,” he told his friends. “If I could've stopped that mystical seal creature, none of this would've happened.”

“You shouldn't blame yourself, Danny,” Sam reassured him. “Someone like her was practically begging to be knocked down a few pegs.”

Ignoring Sam's merciless commentary, Tucker straightened his posture with the enlightenment of a new idea.

“Besides,” he started, “I think all she needs is just someone to help cheer her up.”

To prove his point, or to have an excuse to talk to the saddened girl, Tucker stood up from their table and strode over to sit next to Valerie.

She noticed his presence immediately and looked at him with irritable disdain. “What do you _want_?”

At her note of sudden bitterness, Tucker's swagger slipped from him, causing him to stutter. He didn't meet her eyes, afraid that her icy gaze would pierce holes within him. “I was wondering i-if you wanted to join me, us, for lunch? I-I mean, since, well I heard what happened.”

For a moment she looked even more enraged, causing Tucker to flinch, but her angry expression faded into a sardonic pout. “Oh great,” she groaned monotonously. “Word's already oozed down to the bottom of the social grapevine.”

Cautiously watching the awkward, slowly regressing encounter, Sam and Danny stood up from their table to join Tucker. Valerie's scowl deepened at their arrival, but Danny didn't let her get the first complaint.

“Hey, come on,” he said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “I-I know you're upset. But he just wants to help. We all do.”

Sam's expression darkened unhelpfully. “I don't.”

Danny and Tucker shot her an accusatory glance before Tucker stumbled on his words again. “Most of us do,” he said in an inappropriate optimistic tone. “More than two-thirds.”

Valerie still remained forlorn. “Forget it. I'm already aware of my sudden outcast status. Thanks for reminding me.”

Sam rolled her eyes, fed up with Valerie's dramatic antics. The girl was spoiled, and any new friends were an improvement. Sam believed Valerie just didn't recognize the hidden blessing she was being handed. 

“This doesn't have to be a bad thing, Valerie-” Sam started.

“Can you please just leave me alone?!” Valerie cried, sick of being told of what to do and what to feel and how many people were there for her, when the only people she had ever cared about had just left her in the dirt. These losers' opinions of her meant nothing! Even if she was socially insignificant now, she didn't need to be kicked in the stomach any more. She masked her approaching onslaught of tears with a facade of rage. “I want to enjoy my bag-lunch in peace!”

At that point, Danny had spaced out. He sensed something, something he'd only felt a handful of times. His merman abilities gave him the power to sense water at all times. It was usually annoying, because there was way too much input for his brain to process and ended up confusing him, but about two months he had adjusted to the weird sensation. But now, he felt the water pressure in the pipes below the school was rapidly increasing, becoming dangerously close to exploding. He couldn't tell what was causing the pressure increase, but it felt heavy and made Danny's head slightly groggy.

“Uh, oh,” he muttered absently, continuing to stare blankly at the wall. He knew he should be moving, trying to use his powers to avert the crisis in the pipes, but he just felt so captivated by the arcane feeling within him as he felt the water tighten.

And then, it all fell apart. The pipes surrendered to the immense water pressure, causing them to explode all at once, creating jets of water to invade the cafeteria and other sections of the school. The floor became instantly flooded, sending the students into a mass panic, forcing them to climb on top of the tables to avoid getting consumed by the water. Danny however, allowed himself to be dragged under the water and out of sight, so nobody could witness his unwilling transformation. He didn't have any control in whether or not he changed; if any part of his body came into contact with liquid, that spot would tingle and reveal his other form. For example, if only his hair got wet, it would turn white. Or if only his hand got wet, his skin would turn translucent and he'd get webbed fingers and claws. But when his entire body got wet... he was forced to make the entire transition from human to merman, which wasn't exactly pleasant.

If he wanted to save his clothes, he had to take them off before the transformation began, otherwise his legs would rip through his pants, instantly ruining them. Same for his shoes and socks. After that, his legs became covered in thick, black scales, and grossly melded together until he had one, singular fishtail. The feeling of the change itself was slightly painful, especially the melding part, but after so many repetitions of this process, he was almost desensitized to it. It was a sick thing to experience, and really made Danny feel like he didn't belong in his own skin – no matter what form he was in. His initial hatred of his new dual existence was now becoming a state of permanent pensivity.

Once Danny had discarded all his clothing and had completed his change from Fenton to Cyclone, he resurfaced above the water (hoping nobody would notice the human's disappearance, and the merman's emergence). His heightened hearing throbbed with a bloodcurdling scream, and he noticed that the flooding of the cafeteria wasn't merely accidental. Valerie, the student who had screamed was face to face with a giant orange beast, which Danny grievously recognized as Nemo. Hadn't he left Nemo back in the ocean yesterday? Why the heck was he back _already_? And why did he keep interacting with Valerie Gray of all people?

Kicking into hero mode, Danny swam backwards and prepared to swim and jump over the A-List table to get closer to Valerie and Nemo. He completed the jump sloppily, and ended up splashing them both with water. At that point, many of the other students abandoned their safe positions on the lunch tables and swam towards the exits, disregarding any remaining desire to stay dry.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the room, a lunch lady stood on top of a counter and threw an airborne lump of mashes at Nemo. With Valerie momentarily forgotten, the giant seal turned to her and picked her up with his mouth, causing the unfortunate woman to wail in absolute terror.

Danny swam forward towards the seal once again. “Nice seal. Easy. That lady isn't edible. And neither is anything she cooks.”

In response to Danny's coaxing, Nemo recklessly dropped the cafeteria lady and pawed at Danny in one fluid motion. At Nemo's half-hearted attack, Danny defensively created a water shield with his hydrokinesis and immediately regained offense by tackling him. 

By the sidelines, Tucker and Valerie watched the fight with trance-like observation. Tucker turned to Valerie and shrugged. “Merpeople... What're you gonna do, huh?”

When Tucker pointed it out, Valerie's world crashed. Before, she had been in denial, forcing herself to suppress the supernatural occurrences that she'd witnessed, but when he said it so casually... everything made sense. Merpeople: the non-existent creatures the crazy Fentons had been chasing for decades were actually here... and they were slowly ruining Valerie's life. How had she allowed herself to ignore the clear, obvious facts, such as the strange boy's glowing white hair and black _tail_? How had she forced herself into a complacent state of acceptance? Was that another magical effect, the power of mass denial? Or was she just stupid for not putting it together sooner?

Valerie clutched her head therapeutically, trying to regain her sense of normalcy. “Merpeople? Oh my gosh! Merpeople!”

She was disillusioned now, and saw those sea monsters for what they truly were. Especially, that stupid merboy who had ruined her life. They were evil, wretched architects of destruction and misery – and she had no idea what to do.

* * *

 Even later that day, Valerie couldn't force her recent encounters out of her memory. She'd been less affected by the fact that merpeople were real, than the fact that they were slowly disassembling her life. Her dad's job and her school were being tormented by a heinous merboy.

When she arrived at her new dingy apartment after school, she found an odd package waiting for her in her partially unpacked room. It looked just like all the other boxes she'd brought from her old house, but she knew it's presence was different. It was some kind of... gift? A pity package, maybe? She was almost tempted to tell her dad about it, but thought better of herself. What if it was something only meant for her to see, and that's why it was in her bedroom, not out with the mail.

So, Valerie predictably let her curiosity get the better of her.

She opened the top of the package slowly, and pulled out the legibly written hand-note. She read it aloud to herself out of habit.

“'Heard about your recent merfolk troubles, hope this helps. -Vlad.'” Valerie set the note out of the way and gazed down into the box with a greedy fascination. She found herself grinning manically as her brain starting revolving faster and faster around ideas of vengeance.

“Don't know who you are, Vlad,” she smirked to herself. “But if this thing does what I think it does, I can't say that I care.”

* * *

That same afternoon, Danny found himself wading in shallow waters at his family's private beach. Since he was in the ocean, he was obviously Cyclone at the moment, and took the liberty to show off some of his more impressive flips to Sam, who was lounged across a dull cluster of rocks. However, instead of watching her half-merperson friend joke around, she was immersed in an antique book bound with a gorgeous rainbow cover. Danny wasn't all that offended that she wasn't paying attention to him, he was mainly doing the flips as a habitual stress reliever, anyway. Nemo was really getting him wound up, and he didn't know how to outlet that frustration. It's not like he could punch the poor animal; that would just be cruel.

Finally, Danny took a break from doing flips and rested his elbows at the bottom of one of the rocks Sam was sitting on. “I'm telling you, this is one bad seal. No matter how many times I toss him into the ocean, he finds his way back to shore, and comes back to me!”

Sam glanced up from her book, “Well, you're the only merman in the area, besides that Vlad guy you warned us about. Maybe he's just drawn to your energy or something. After all, he is a lower form of selkie, which is why he has magical properties.”

Danny quizzically raised an eyebrow. “Selkie? What's that?”

“According to this book you took from Nereus's prison,” she referred to the breakout incident from a few weeks ago, “'a selkie is a seal-like creature that can shed their seal skin to become human' – sort of like you – 'but there are many lesser forms of selkies that have no human form. They are often regular seals, and due to their magical ancestry, appear in a rare variety of colors and possess simple hydrokinesis.'”

Danny contemplated the new information, before nodding placidly. “That... explains some things.”

“Since he's clearly not going back because of you, I think you should try to train him,” Sam admitted, a little harshly. Moments later, she was sliding off of the rocks, and jumping to the dry sand. 

Confused by her sudden departure, Danny wondered if he'd said something to offend her somehow. “Where are you going?” he asked.

She gave him an incredulous look. “Hello? I can't be seen hanging out with a merperson. What if your parents come out and see me talking to the water? Yeah, like that isn't suspicious,” she rolled her eyes.

Before she completely stalked off, Danny quickly called out for her, “Wait, how am I supposed to train him? He's a seal, not a puppy.”

“It's the same principles,” Sam explained. “Try teaching him some simple tricks; it will instruct obedience.”

Danny sighed. “I guess I can try....”

He calmly floated under the water, letting his gills dominate again. He knew Nemo was still close by, so he used his ability to communicate telepathically with other sea creatures to call him close.

_ Nemo... here boy!  _

Only seconds after Danny had emitted the mental signal, the water wavered and a miniature Nemo came propelling towards Danny's general direction. Danny had little to no time to react when the small seal transformed into it's big form again, pounced on him, and pushed him to the shifting ocean floor.

Danny pushed Nemo off of him after a few seconds of the seal's affection. “Well, so far we're off to a good start.”

From the shore, Sam could see the general outlines of Danny and Nemo from above the water. She genuinely smiled at the nice scene. “A boy and his pet....” she thought, wistfully, before frowning. “Somehow it's not supposed to be this freaky. Wait, what is-”

Suddenly, Sam saw a flash of red on the horizon of the water, gradually approaching closer to the shore where Danny was. She couldn't tell what it was, but it was definitely moving fast. She squinted, trying to attempt to guess what it was, only making her more confused.

Meanwhile, Danny was still underwater when he felt a tug in his gut. He could sense the surrounding water for at least a mile, but there was a shift only about fifty feet away that was very alarming. He looked up just in time to see a torpedo heading directly for him and Nemo (who had changed back to small form), with only about two seconds to spare. He grabbed Nemo and pushed off with his tail, barely getting out of the way of the impetuous weapon. Danny knew he had only a few more seconds before his attacker would reveal himself, so he placed Nemo in a thicket of seaweed.

“Stay,” he commanded authoritatively, hoping it would work.

He floats up, scanning for the hidden enemy. In his brief scan, Danny looked at the crater the torpedo recklessly created on the shallow ocean floor.

“What the heck was that?” he wondered.

A figure in a red, stylishly armored wet-suit descended from the surface of the water, balanced on some sort of submersible surfboard. The figure was completely obscured and protected from the ocean environment, keeping their identity unknown, but Danny could vaguely assume that this enemy was a girl. Danny was surprised that even though they were underwater, her suit was obviously ingrained with expensive technology that caused her to glow nearly as bright as him in the water. She also was burdened with a small oxygen tank, allowing her to breathe. She would've looked completely menacing, if she hadn't lost balance the moment she became completely submerged underwater and almost fell sideways in the water.

“Woah!” she exclaimed. Danny could hear better underwater, so he didn't know if she knew he could hear what she was saying to herself.

Despite her momentary slip-up, she wordlessly raised her arm and her suit brought out another torpedo, which automatically locked onto Danny. He managed to dodge the second assault, but he was rapidly forced into a retreat when she began swimming after him. He swam as fast as he could, which was certainly faster than her, but she used her weird underwater surfboard thingy as a rocket booster, which allowed her to keep up with Danny.

As they swam, Danny mainly kept a straightforward trajectory, while the girl behind him (she had sounded much younger than a woman) started firing bursts of anti-merperson energy, which all missed Danny considerably. However, she was still fueled by the thrill of the pursuit and the raw look of fear she'd placed on Danny's face. Unbeknownst to Danny, she was grinning under her mask, “Yeah! Now _that's_ what I'm talking about!”

When Danny thought he'd gotten out of her range, he momentarily allowed himself to float in place to catch his breath. Swimming that fast required an endurance that he didn't have yet, so he had to catch his breath. His gills furiously sucked in water to keep him from hyperventilating. However, his short break was almost immediately interrupted by three circular knives. Thankfully, they all missed.

The Red Surfer appeared in front of him and he glared at her critically, “Wow, nice aim. First day with the new weapons?”

Another one of them grazes his arm, causing him to clutch it. “Ow! That hurt!”

She sounded close to laughter. “Oh, don't worry merkid. It won't hurt long. Because _you_ are going _down_!”

She fired up her anti-merfolk blaster and shot, taking account for the recoil. Emerging from where Danny had left him, Nemo entered the fray, turning into his big form and pushing Danny out of the way just in time. Due to the new distraction, the Red Surfer's oxygen tank momentarily fell off of her shoulders, causing her to struggle to maintain balance. While she regained her composure, Nemo dragged Danny as far away from her as possible.

After realizing her prey had escaped, the Surfer angrily grit her teeth. “Come back!”

She surged against the current of the water, chasing the gigantic seal creature the merboy. She balanced the blaster on her shoulder once again, rapidly shooting at her targets with little to no accuracy, letting only her rage guide her in her hunt. She was so consumed by revenge that she disregarded her own surroundings and accidentally allowed herself to crash front first into a reef and falling. It gave Danny just enough time to slide into the rocks where Sam was anticipatedly watching the encounter.

“Who is _that_?” Sam asked curiously, before her expression mellowed to one of admiration. “That's an awesome outfit!”

Danny shot her a look. “Don't know, don't care.” He turned toward Nemo, thinking of a method to get him out of the surfer's vicinity. An idea came to him, and Danny formed a small ball of water with his hydrokinesis, allowing it to hover over his hand. “See the ball boy, fetch!” he threw the ball of water and watched with satisfaction as Nemo chased it.

“Wow, he is like a puppy,” he muttered absently. He then remembered the urgency of his current situation with a crushing realization. “Oh man, she's coming! I don't have any time to dry off!”

Sam looked at him in fear, also recognizing the grave inevitability of their circumstances. Her jaw then clenched tightly and she offers Danny a hand. “I have an idea! You just have to dry your hair!”

Sam had to dig her feet in the rocks to gain enough momentum to pull Danny up onto the rocks, but once he was there, she gave him the towel he'd left on the beach to use to dry off after swimming.

It took the Red Surfer no less than forty-five seconds to appear. “No escaping me now, merboy!”

She looked around frantically for the glowing boy, only to find Danny Fenton and Sam Manson wrapped up in a towel, kissing each other. Fortunately, she was far away enough not to question Danny's glowing green eyes, his paler than usual skin, and his odd shaped 'legs' under the towel. When they noticed the intruder, the two of them looked down at her, shocked.

“Do you mind?” Sam growled, angrily.

The Red Surfer backed away naturally. “Ah, gross! Loser love!” she proclaimed. “I always knew you two geeks would end up together.”

She turned on her board, surfing away from the two teenagers, apparently abandoning her search for the MIA merman and selkie. When she was completely out of sight, Sam unwrapped them from the towel, and picked herself up from where she'd been pressed against Danny's fins. 

Sam was watching the horizon cautiously, almost afraid their new enemy would return. “That sounded like Valerie....” she observed. She turned back to her friend who was staring blankly in lack of comprehension for what had just happened. She nervously waved a hand in front of him. “Danny? _Danny_. You didn't think that was a real kiss, did you?”

“No!” he said defensively. “Why? Did you?”

“No!” she replied just as insecure.

The two of them were suddenly welcomed with awkward silence, so Danny resignedly picked the towel back up and started using it to dry off the rest of the way so he could transform back into human.

* * *

Ever since the accident, Danny had a difficult time going to swim meets, but he still went in support of his school and to escape his house for a few hours. But... since he was in a crowded space with a pool and people with dripping wet swimsuits and wet hair and slippery wet floors and wet seats in the bleachers, he had to take some over the top precautionary measures to ensure he wouldn't accidentally change into Cyclone.

As long as he didn't turn into a fish in front of all of Coral High School, the weird looks from wearing a turtle-neck sweater, jeans, tennis shoes, and a beanie were worth it.

Valerie casually slid into the bleachers next to Danny, Sam, and Tucker. She gave Danny the signature weird look, but decided to ignore his current apparel for a different inquiry. “So,” she said, trying to make her question sound natural (it didn't), “Tucker tells me that your parents hunt merpeople!”

Danny didn't appear surprised by the question, but did feel a little betrayed by his friend. After all, the trio had pretty much confirmed that Valerie actually was the violent surfer girl from the beach. “Did he now? What else did he tell you?” he glared at Tucker accusingly.

The crowd of students anxiously watched as Dash Baxter walked up to the diving board, preparing for his dive. This was when Danny stopped paying attention, because even though he was more sensitive to the pool than other parts of the school, his water sense started slipping from him, similar to how it had yesterday. He could feel the water pressure building again, and prepared himself for another attack, by subtly taking off his beanie, alerting Sam and Tucker that something was wrong.

Dash jumped off of the diving board, his form straight and composed, until moments before he hit the water, a giant wave compromised his poise. The students in the bleachers predictably screamed, and everyone began to crowd the exits when Nemo made himself known, once again. He was in his big form, unlike how Danny had last seen him, and was causing the water from the pool to spill into the rest of the room. When nobody was paying attention to Danny he stripped his remaining clothes and let his human body be stolen by the water. 

On the other side of the pool, Valerie transformed into her high tech surfer gear. All of it was able to materialize over her other clothes except for the oxygen tank, which she kept in her backpack and had to put on manually. 

Nemo finally spotted Danny and instantly reverted back into his smaller form, and indicatively started pawing at the ground, devoid of all hostility. Danny wasn't really an expert with animals, but he could at least understand what 'digging' meant.

“You're looking for something? What're you looking for? Is that why you won't go back to the ocean?”

Nemo didn't answer, and instead, was pushed a few feet away by one of Valerie's blasts. The seal cried out weakly, and disappeared to recover. 

The Red Surfer then approached Danny. “Say goodbye, merboy.”

Danny stared up the barrel of her gun, slowly swimming backwards. Sam and Tucker, practically the only students left in the room, watched from the sidelines. Sam turned to Tucker with genuine concern. “Oh my gosh! Danny's in trouble! Newsflash, that's your girlfriend.” 

In the past day, Valerie had pretended to date Tucker to gain information about merpeople. He knew that he was being used, and honestly didn't care. 

That's why he looked at Sam dumbly for a second before smiling. “That's awesome! Hey Valerie, wait up!” In one motion, he jumped off of the bleachers and accidentally landed on top of Valerie. She groaned groggily, but Tucker remained ignorant. “Great outfit,” he complimented.

While Valerie was being pinned down by Tucker, Danny used his his hydrokinesis (which he was still learning how to perform) to propel himself forwards on a wave. He swam forward and grabbed Valerie by the waist, used his tail to fly upwards, and trapped in her in a nearby swimming net used for water volleyball.

“You should be safe here until help comes,” he told her.

Valerie's voice cracked with immense fury as she tried to escape the net she was hopelessly stuck in. “Get me down!” she demanded incoherently. “Get me down so I can destroy you!”

Danny didn't respond to her threat, and instead, created a new wave to allow him to swim to the boy's locker room. He slipped into the room, quickly locking the door behind him so nobody could interrupt his transformation back into a human. Danny sat on the floor and grabbed a nearby towel and used some of his hydrokinesis to help speed up the process. Eventually, he managed to dry off his tail enough to where his scales disappeared and his legs painfully separated, rearranging his muscles and bones. Finally able to stand again, Danny guiltily stole another boy's clothes (he had lost his in the chaos) and sighed.

He found himself in a mirror and made sure that he looked relatively normal again. Self-recognition welled up within him and he forced his eyes shut, musing to himself aloud. “This is all kinda of my fault, sort of,” Danny admitted to no one. “I suppose I should do something to help Valerie. After I figure out what to do with that seal... _selkie_ thing.”

As he walked out of the locker room, he ignored the fact that his feet were still pearly white with elongated nails. He wasn't going to steal somebody's shoes, he already felt bad for stealing a shirt and shorts. It was getting harder to transform back without so many complications; he really needed to find a solution to his clothes problem eventually. But first, he had to find a way to keep Nemo in the ocean and figure out how Valerie had started merpeople hunting. He supposed the best way to accomplish both of those would to start with finding what the seal was looking for.

One problem at a time.

* * *

Right after school, Danny let Nemo lead him to where he wanted to go. He kept him supervised at all times and was puzzled when the tiny orange seal brought him back to the original scene of the crime. He was partially nervous because he didn't know how to explain to anyone why Danny _Fenton_ was walking with a small mythical sea creature, but thankfully nobody witnessed his trek across town. Finally, Danny arrived at the Axion Marine Research Facility. He stared up at the building skeptically, tuning out the waves from the ocean behind the building. 

He turned to Nemo, who was entranced by the facility. “Axion?” Danny asked. “What you're looking for is in there?”

Nemo yipped in confirmation, and with a stride of risk, Danny presently formed a rough plan to conclude all the recent issues.

* * *

 The sun was hanging heavy on the horizon when Danny, Sam, and Tucker watched Axion from the neighboring shore. Sam was wearing her purple bat backpack, Tucker was armed with his PDA, and Danny was nervously pacing on the beach. It was convenient that Axion was located on the ocean, but the water between him and the facility still scared him; what if the researchers saw him coming when he sneaked in to try to find what Nemo was looking for? There were so many 'what ifs' that scared him. He hadn't gotten this close to the human world as Danny Cyclone since he had that quarrel with that amulet that turned Paulina and Sam into Krakens. He was understandably anxious, but he had to ignore his worries for the moment. He had to do what was necessary. 

He put on a semi-brave face and stared out over the water. That was his duty as Danny Cyclone, protecting Amity Cove from any mystical creatures that crawled out of the Atlantic.

“We're here,” Sam announced indifferently. “Where's the  sea puppy ?”

Danny stepped closer towards the tide and whistled, causing big Nemo to surface from the water. He looked at Sam and Tucker questioningly, trying to decide if they were threats.

“Relax,” Tucker said nervously, as Nemo gave a guttural growl akin to a dog's. “I'm on your side.”

Sam crossed her arms, referring to his recent affinity with Valerie. “Yeah, so he says.”

Tucker scowled, “Hey, I'm the one that knocked out the security cameras, remember?”

The three of them fell silent again, looking back at the facility looming across the short span of water. Danny coughed and broke the ice.

“Okay, good news. There's only one guard. Bad news, it's Valerie's dad.”

“ _Ouch,_ ” Sam and Tucker sympathized together.

“So,” Danny continued, “I think it's safer if I go up there myself.”

Before either of his friends could react, he climbed up on a rock, stripped down to his underwear, and jumped into the water. He reemerged as Cyclone, and threw his now wet underwear onto the shore for later. The transformation was so quick this time, it felt like he'd torn something inside of him, but he knew that the feeling would fade into regular soreness within a few minutes.

Danny rested his elbows on the rock that he'd jumped off of to talk to Sam and Tucker. “That Fenton Fisher I brought should make a good leash,” Danny said, pointing to his Dad's 'prized invention' that he'd stolen and thrown carelessly on the beach earlier. “You guys watch Nemo.”

Using his hydrokinesis, he made the tide creep forward and bring him the Fenton Fisher. He tied one end of the Fenton Fisher around Nemo, and let Tucker tie the other end around a palm tree. Once that was done, Danny wordlessly disappeared into the water, heading for Axion at his top speed.

Sam rolled her eyes in annoyance at his sudden abandonment. “We will!” she called out in vain to the vacant surrounding waters.

* * *

 The facility still wasn't repaired from the damage he and Nemo had inflicted earlier in the week, so Danny was able to simply swim through an empty tank into one of Axion's many labs. He looked around for a minute and sighed in resignation. He knew that Nemo was looking for something, he had just assumed it would be obvious. But now he was realizing that it would be near impossible to find what the selkie was so hopelessly searching for.

“I wish I knew what I was looking for,” he said aloud. Apparently talking wasn't such a good idea, because as soon as he spoke, a ray of anti-merperson energy nearly grazed his head. He gasped at the sight of Valerie in her combative surf equipment. Her entrance into the tank of water had broken the glass and allowed them to pour into the neighboring room. 

“Back to the scene of the crime?” she taunted.

Danny knew that Damon Gray worked here, he just hadn't expected her tag along to his job again, especially after what had just happened. He was _not_ counting on fighting the Red Surfer tonight.

“I really hate to do this,” Danny started tentatively, “but-” he fired a hydroblast (pressured water energy), effortlesslt knocking the blaster out of her hands. However, Valerie refused to stay down and let her suit generate another (bigger) blaster from nothing.

“Oh, yeah?” she sounded _pissed_. “Well _I_ don't!”

She shot a tremendous torpedo at Danny, recklessly missing, which tore a new hole through a small section of Axion's roof. Tucker must've done too good of a job disabling the security, because nothing in the high-tech facility that there was just a vast hole ripped in the building. The force from the torpedo threw Danny out of the hole, and he had to struggle to swim back into the lab without crashing into the floor and falling unconscious.

Meanwhile, the blast from Valerie's careless damage was plenty noticeable from the outside. From across the shore, Tucker saw the explosion in Axion's roof and paled considerably. “What was that?”

Sam looked at him smugly, “Ten to one says it's your girlfriend.”

Nemo suddenly started roaring, as loudly as possible for a seal to roar. He started jumping against the Fenton Fisher, and managed to pull up the roots to the palm tree he was tied to. Desperately, Sam and Tucker both tried to hold on to the tree to prevent him from escaping them, but the force of Nemo's pull was so strong that they only hopelessly ended up being dragged with him. Nemo dove into the water and began swimming at an unbelievable pace, and both Sam and Tucker did their best to keep their heads above the surface.

“This – is why – I prefer – _non-aquatic pets!_ ” Sam screamed furiously.

Back in Axion, Valerie failed to acknowledge the damage she had inflicted in the ceiling and continued to shoot at Danny. In defense, he fired another hydroblast above her head.

“You're a pretty lousy shot,” Valerie insulted. Moving out of the way again to readjust her aim.

“That's because I'm not trying to hit you!” he responded, trying to reason with her. “Can't we talk?”

She scoffed. “I'm done talking!”

She moved to where the setting on her high-tech surfboard changed, generating rocket blasters and propelling her through the water like a torrent, so that she was heading for a direct collision with Danny. Once he realized that she wasn't going to stop, Danny panicked and shielded himself in a huge ball of water, revolving around him with enough kinetic energy to prevent Valerie from smashing into him. The shield made her lose her balance, causing her to almost crash face first into a wall, before she corrected herself and stopped inches away. Seconds later, Nemo himself broke through the wall, towering over her threateningly.

Danny dropped everything and sought to save Valerie from getting hurt from Nemo. He swam upwards and grabbed her by the arms, sparing her from the monstrous seal. Consequently, she wasn't exactly appreciative of his rescue. She writhed and fought against his grip violently, attempting to pull at his hair but unable to grip his ethereal white locks because they were immersed in the water.

“Let go!” she screamed, her wrath unraveling her concise train of thought.

“Yeah,” Danny's voice dripped with snarky endorsement, “you're welcome.”

The tug of the water finally dominated, and Valerie slid out of Danny's webbed grip. Once she was free, she steadied her swimming, and pulled out another new blaster. Her next shot accidentally hit the emergency alarm, causing the entire facility to scream with sirens and erupt with red flashing lights. Across the street, Damon heard the alarm go off, and dropped his fast-food dinner in panic. “Valerie!”

Somewhere in her voice of reason (which she had long since suppressed) Valerie knew that the emergency alarm was _not_ a good thing. But she was so angry that nothing else mattered, she had to eradicate this merperson scum! She had to make him feel the extent of her misery and the inflicting end of her vengeance.

“You and your idiotic seal ruined everything! And you're gonna pay! You and _every_ merperson like you!” she shrieked.

Her next blast tore open a hole in the wall where there was a very large pipe. However, instead of adding to the flooding lab, the exposed plumbing fixture started to drain all the water away like a vacuum. Danny tried to escape the suction, but he'd already been caught by the water's relentless pulling. He was swallowed into the plumbing, ridding him of Valerie's sight. 

“That oughta do it,” she grinned. She knew he would be back, but for now her target was the other sea creature tormenting her.

Danny floated hopelessly down the old pipe and was deposited into an old research lab that looked like it hadn't been touched in at least a decade. He flopped pathetically on the floor, unable to swim up from the lack of water. From what he could tell, there wasn't much in the room itself, but an array of old shelves and weird rocks and things that looked like they'd been collected from the ocean floor. 

“A hidden lab?” he inquired. “What the heck could they be keeping in here?”

He then noticed that his tail was touching some sort of authentic looking treasure chest. He wanted to get a better look, so he grabbed his tail with his hands and moved it off of the chest. He then wriggled closer so he could open it. He lifted the top of the chest, and discovered a glowing green necklace adorned with a rainbow King's Crown shell. It was the only thing in the moderately sized chest except for plain navy and brown pebbles. 

Danny cautiously picked up the necklace to examine it. “Wait a minute,” he muttered, “I think I saw this in Nereus's magic book...” his eyes widened in realization. “Could _this_ be what Nemo's been after?”

With a flush of realization and confidence, Danny pocketed the necklace, and summoned water with his hydrokinesis to get him out of the hidden room. 

Back in the main room, Nemo floated over Valerie and she remained there, paralyzed. Until now, she hadn't realized how much like a beast the seal had resembled, but now a new-found fear was firmly gripping her heart. 

But then, the tide turned. Literally.

Danny Cyclone had reappeared from wherever he had disappeared to, and was clutching something glowing in his right hand. At first, Valerie thought it was some sort of weapon, and had snapped back into fighting mode. But then, he turned towards his savage companion instead.

Danny smiled apprehensively at Nemo. “Hey boy!” he said. “I-is this what you've been looking for?”

He held up the necklace with the rainbow shell, causing Nemo to bark happily in reply. Then, he realized that Danny was holding _his_ possession, and Nemo responded with a territorial roar.

Danny jumped at the sudden hostility. “No, no, it's okay,” he offered the necklace in Nemo's general direction. Danny adjusted his voice to be more endearing. “Does you want your collar? Huh? Oh does you? Here you go, now please just go home-”

He threw the necklace in the water, and it drifted slowly and ceremoniously fell around Nemo's neck.

“And stay there!” Danny finished.

Once he realized that he had his magical collar back, the selkie reverted back into it's small form. The glowing necklace then created a miniature underwater hurricane around Nemo, causing him to fade away in the typhoon. Danny then turned back to Valerie and decided to pull her back up to the surface since he could sense that the small pocket of oxygen in her tank was steadily depleting (he could sense air pockets in water as well as water itself). 

“Look,” Danny started to explain, “I know you're angry, but that's not my pet, and I'm sorry about whatever happened to you,” he paused. “Not _all_ merpeople are evil.”

She stared at him blankly, almost convincing Danny she was about to offer a truce. Then, she snarled her harsh reply. “Yeah? Well not all humans are saps, huh!”

Since they were so close, she punched him hard in the stomach and shot a wrist blaster at him, causing him to gasp in shock.

“Goodbye, merboy,” she declared ominously.

Of course, that's when Damon opened the door to the laboratory they were in, causing the water level in the room to dramatically lower.

“Valerie?” her dad asked.

Her jaw dropped open in terrified comprehension. “Oh, no! My Dad! I can't let him see me like this!”

Danny realized that this was his only chance to escape and took the opportunity. “I'm sorry,” he said again, “but I can't help you there.”

Before Damon could see him, he found Axion's exit to the ocean, and dove out into the water. Sam and Tucker, who'd been observing from the hallway for the past few minutes, also fled.

* * *

 After most of their battles with mystical beings from the ocean, the trio continued to live their lives as normal as possible. So the next day at school, they found themselves sitting at their normal table, eating their normal lunch, surrounded by their normal peers – as usual. There was nothing to indicate what had occurred the previous day at Axion except for the obvious damages, which had been publicly attested to a 'rampant seal'. Team Cyclone all thought it was ironic.

“Know where the seal went?” Tucker asked, shoveling a scoop of gray mashed potatoes.

Danny took a bite of his burger. “Nope.”

Sam looked at him apprehensively before squinting her eyes interrogatively. “Are you gonna play it a little safer now that ' _Valerie the Merfolk Slayer_ ' is around?”

The automatically dropped the topic when Valerie nonchalantly passed their table, holding another bag lunch. She refused to look at any of them, and continued on her own path, independently.

“Yep,” Danny answered.

Valerie exited the cafeteria and resumed her walk to her locker. She opened it as normal to find another package, similar to the one she had received earlier in the week.

Danny looked at his friends pensively. “I just wish I knew where she got those weapons....”

She opened the new box with a dangerous smirk. The locker door slammed shut.

 


End file.
